


The Hunt

by knightlychika



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood and Gore, Character Death, Families That Kill Monsters Together Stay Together, Gen, Ghouls, Horror Bang 2018, Major Character Injury, Monsters, Survival Horror, VLDHorrorBang, and death, lots of blood, people get eaten
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-21 05:33:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13734207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knightlychika/pseuds/knightlychika
Summary: Shiro is a battle-hardened veteran now working as head of security for the Altea Castle Facility, an underground research laboratory built specifically to house and study unusual organisms. Their newest residents: ghouls, creatures which live and hunt in the dark. In containment at the ACF they pose no threat, but when the whole facility blacks out and security measures fail, the scientists at the facility find themselves at the mercy of the creatures they had been studying.Now Shiro and his friends are in a race to escape the facility, a hundred feet underground. He doesn’t know who to trust, or who turned out the lights. But he does know that here they are the prey.





	1. Act I

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> This story is my contribution to the Voltron Horror Bang. It's my first attempt at writing horror on my own, but I hope you enjoy it regardless!
> 
> Shoutout to my artist and partner for this bang, 13bella! Bless her soul for being so patient with me when I took my time finishing this (read: ahahaha no I totally didn't finish this only a week before publishing pshhhh)
> 
>  
> 
> [Please check out the art she did for this fic!](https://13bella.tumblr.com/post/171275817480/art-for-the-vldhorrorbang-event-this-is-for)

Shiro stood in front of the elevator doors, his hands braced on his hips just above his utility belt. He sighed, focusing on the rattling of the elevator shaft to calm himself. It helped enough to at least ease the tension in his shoulders, but none in his mind.

He hated inspections. Logically it made sense; this facility was owned and run by people who didn’t actually work here, so they didn’t know how the place operated. They sent mandates out, sure - mandates which the Altea Castle Facility followed because some of the proposed changes actually _did_ help operations - but they didn’t see how the ACF actually ran. They didn’t know what things needed to change unless formal requests were submitted.

In truth it was actually a good thing that the Altea family cared enough to fly out in person. Too many times Shiro’s life had been in the hands of someone who gave orders from a place of safety - orders which were sometimes given out of spite, based on misinformation, and almost always issued by someone who had never been in the trenches. The Alteas, on the other hand, were literally coming out to the trench to see it for themselves - and one didn’t find a trench quite like a hundred-foot-underground research facility.

It just made security a nightmare to get calls like “hey your boss is landing right now and they expect a full tour.”

So here he and Keith stood, listening to a creaky elevator descend towards them so they could play entourage.

“Hey Shiro, you got eyes on the Princess yet?” One of Shiro’s security officers, Nyma’s voice echoed through the room as it was heard over the multiple radios present.

Shiro tilted his head toward his own radio and pressed the mic. “Miss Altea will have everyone’s respect, is that understood?”

“Eh, of course.”

Shiro nodded, “Good.” His eyes flicked to the elevator door, “She’s in the elevator now.”

“Roger that.”

Shiro released his radio, crossing his arms as he turned his attention back to the door in front of him.

Keith huffed with a humorless smile, then side-eyed his superior. “Weren’t you the one grumbling when we first got the call they were here?”

Shiro glanced to the younger officer. “I ‘grumbled’ because I wish they would have told us earlier they were coming. Regardless, they’re still our superiors and we don’t know if there’s a reason that they didn’t tell us about this visit. Just,” he pulled his prosthetic hand from its crossed position and motioned at Keith palm-down, “Keep the peace. If we help this go as smooth as possible, then it’ll be over with faster.”

The elevator dinged as it arrived, preventing Keith from voicing the retort Shiro _knew_ was waiting to be unleashed.

The doors parted to reveal a group of three people. One was Rolo, another of Shiro’s officers who he’d sent up to accompany their visitors. One was a tall man with orange hair and an impressive mustache. Coran didn’t usually carry weapons on his person, and today seemed no different. The third was a young woman with brilliant white hair that was noticeable on its own, but the way it contrasted with her dark skin demanded the attention of anyone in the vicinity. She didn’t have weapons either, but she’d always struck Shiro as the “my body _is_ my weapon” type. Not that he was eager to test this theory.

Shiro approached the group as they exited the elevator, a light smile on his face. He’d meant what he said to Keith; there was no need to make this trip any more noteworthy than it needed to be.

“Ms. Altea, Mr. Smythe, welcome to Cloud Facility.”

“Thank you, Shiro.” The young woman smiled up at Shiro and extended her hand in greeting, which he was quick to accept. “It’s been some time since our last meeting.”

Shiro shook Coran’s hand as well before he looked back to her. “Too long, Ms. Altea.”

“Allura, please. If you don’t mind, I’d rather make this visit as time efficient as possible. I’m certain we all have duties to return to.”

“Absolutely, ma’am.” A voice in the back of Shiro’s mind demanded ‘ _if you have other things to do then why come here at all?’_ but he wasn’t about to voice this sentiment. After all, he couldn’t grump at Nyma’s comment then turn around and throw out his own snide remarks.

“Right this way.” Shiro turned toward the door to the stairs leading further into the facility, motioning to it with an arm. Keith, Allura, and Coran nodded and walked that way, while Shiro went to the small security office just next to the stairs.

Shiro looked to Rolo, who was seated in front of the computer screen. “Lance is running behind, but he’ll be here any minute to relieve you for your Level 2 patrol.”

Rolo nodded, “Roger that.” The man looked to the panel of buttons and switches on the desk next to the computer, and hit one of them. The door to the lower level buzzed, then just barely opened. “Happy hunting, sir.”

“No hunting today, just a quick look around and we’ll be back up. Hold down the fort,” Shiro said as he exited the office and rejoined Keith and their visitors. He moved past them and gripped the partially-ajar door with his prosthetic hand.

He froze as dread clenched his stomach.

 _What the hell?_ He’d done this hundreds of times already - descend into the lower levels of the facility. Yes, he knew what was down there, but he also knew what measures they’d taken to avoid anything happening.

“Shiro? You okay?”

He turned to find the group staring at him confused, but Keith looked particularly concerned as well.

Shiro blinked, still trying to figure out what that sensation was, before he nodded. “Uh . . yeah.” He looked to the door and pulled it open, then stepped through.

“Watch your step.”

* * *

 

“Pidge I’m telling you, the drone can’t handle that kind of power dump. You have to dismantle the wiring from the light to the central node first or you’re just going to blow the whole thing up as soon as you plug it into anything else.”

“Not if I keep the memory bank I’d access _by_ plugging it to the main system separate from the node. The memory won’t pull charge from the system, only the information I tell it to. I’m hurt that you have so little faith in me, Hunk.”

Shiro had no idea what the two were talking about, but the unmistakable sound of what Lance affectionately called “technobabble” wafted down the hall once the group reached Level 2. It wasn’t such an unusual occurrence - in fact, the place wouldn’t be the same without their banter - it would just be nice to sometimes know what they were talking about. Or to even know if they were really speaking _English_.

“Do your scientists often argue?” Allura didn’t sound so amused by the exchange.

Shiro looked over his shoulder at her, “Oh they’re not arguing, that’s just how those two communicate. They get along great, they just . . have different approaches to some projects.”

“What he means,” Keith spoke up from the rear of the group, “Is that when you get a hacker and a mechanic in the same room, sparks fly. It’s no big deal.”

Shiro looked to Keith, and was tempted to give him a subtle warning look - except Allura and Coran were still looking at him. So he just maintained eye contact with his comrade for an extra couple seconds - a move which apparently made his point, and Keith averted his eyes in such a fashion that Shiro could all but hear the “yeah yeah I know” that usually accompanied it.

Pidge and Hunks’ discussion grew louder as the others walked down the hall, closer to the doorways for the tech labs. Eventually they reached the doorway to it and turned the corner to enter the computer lab.

Pidge and Hunk were hunkered over a table covered with a small metal mass of wires and metal scrap.

The two looked up at Shiro and the group as they entered, and Pidge looked particularly eager.

“Shiro! You’ll back me up, won’t you?”

Hunk kept his now-incredulous gaze on Pidge. “No way! As head of security, it’s Shiro’s job to _keep_ things from blowing up!”

“I told you, Hunk, it’s not gonna blow. I learned my lesson after that Galra drone. Besides, it’s not my fault those guys don’t know how to properly program something.”

Shiro arched an eyebrow. “That drone was designed to resist tampering, if I recall.”

“ _Still_ not my fault.”

“Hello, my nerds.” Everyone turned as Lance joined the group from the hall. “Still having fun with the gadget?”

Pidge’s face lit up, “Yup. Rover’s just about ready for a test flight. Just need to program in some commands and we’re good to go.”

“I’m so proud.” Lance turned his smile at Shiro, to whom he then nodded in greeting. His face faltered, though, when his eyes fell on Allura and Coran. His posture immediately straightened as he adopted a more professional demeanor. “Miss Altea. Coran.”

“Hello, Lance.” Both smiled at him, though Allura was the one to speak up.

“Hey,” Shiro nodded towards the stairs to Level 1. “Rolo’s waiting for you for shift change.”

“On it.” Lance moved towards the hall, pausing only long enough to nod to Keith in greeting before he disappeared around the corner.

“Your staff seem quite friendly with each other.” Coran started twisting the end of his mustache with his other arm crossed in front of his abdomen - the pose was almost pretentious, except everyone here knew Coran was hardly the type. “Reminds me of _my_ days working in the laboratory.”

Shiro turned to face the man, expression light. “We’re pretty close here, yeah. It helps us stay efficient; if we know everyone else has our back we don’t have to worry about someone trying to undermine anyone else.”

“And you’re finding this true of your former-Galra team members, too?”

Allura’s question was perfectly reasonable, given the circumstances. Galra Technologies were long-time rivals to the Altea family, and this rivalry was certainly felt by employees as well. Shiro would be lying if he’d said he hadn’t been concerned when he heard about techs who had previously worked for Galra Tech would be moving into this facility, but both had quickly proved themselves to be fully committed to Altea now.

Shiro made a conscious effort to keep his tone steady and informative, rather than defensive on their behalf. “Ulaz and Thace are valuable members to this team, ma’am. They both devote their full attention to their work here, and even help us in areas where we’re otherwise lacking.”

“Like this guy.” Pidge grabbed her small robot from the table in front of her and held it up for the public eye. “Rover has some elements I’ve appropriated from Galra Tech drones - elements that Thace helped me decipher.”

Allura studied the drone for a moment before turning her gaze back to Shiro, all traces of doubt removed from her eyes. “Excellent. I’m glad to know everyone’s getting along.”

Hunk crossed his arms, “If only Sal hadn’t flaked out on us that first month. I hadn’t pegged him for the type to just bolt like that.”

Allura looked to him, confused. “I’m sorry?”

“Sal was one of Shiro’s guys, he worked security. He was around for a little bit, but one day just didn’t show up. We couldn’t get a hold of him or anything.” Hunk shrugged, “We figured he got freaked out by Level 3 and just bolted. Kinda sucks though, I liked that guy.”

Allura looked from Hunk to Shiro, “I’m sorry, I never heard about this.”

He tilted his head in a half-shrug. “I’m not sure it was reported. We had a kind of hectic time back then anyway, I can’t say it surprised me.”

“And why is that?”

“That’s about when the ghouls arrived.” Pidge spoke up, with a note of dread.

Everyone in the room, save Coran and Allura, shuddered. Unease filled the air, almost strong enough that one could reach out and touch it. ‘Level 3’ had become a profane phrase in and of itself - and those blasted creatures were exclusively why.

Allura looked around at the group, concern and surprise both on her face. “They _are_ secured, yes?”

“They are,” Keith spoke up from behind - and when they looked to him, Shiro saw he had his hand resting on the hilt of his knife. “But they’re intelligent, _and_ opportunistic. If they see any chance to strike they’ll take it without hesitation.”

Shiro couldn’t say he approved of Keith scaring the quiznak out of their guests - their _bosses_ , even - but he also couldn’t deny that he also hated going within a hundred feet of those cursed things. Nor could he deny that having a healthy fear of them was a good thing; if Allura’s employees would be working in these conditions, then she needed to know what they dealt with every day. After all, wasn’t that part of the reason behind this visit?

She blinked several times, as though trying to reclaim her composure, before she took a breath. “What makes these ‘ghouls’ so dangerous?”

“They’re predators, for starters.” Pidge adjusted her glasses, the lenses catching the light from overhead with the motion. “Superior speed and night vision. They have incredible flexibility too; we had to install electric barriers in the ventilation system to make sure they couldn’t breech it.”

Hunk shuddered. “For the first few weeks you could hear them testing it out, even up here. Those vents carry sounds from anywhere.”

“That hissing they do is so unnatural too.” Rolo joined the group, apparently now on his Level 2 patrol.

Pidge grimaced, “Matt said the same. He about lost it when we heard a catfight outside our house the other night.”

Shiro could relate. Ever since his time in the military, he found a lot of things put him more on edge than he’d ever expected. The Fourth of July was hellacious in and of itself, even if he understood the intent. New Years as well. But even things like thunder, campfires with billowing smoke, and surround sound now had Shiro on high alert more often than he cared to think about.

And even though Matt had served with Shiro, he had been affected differently. He wasn’t usually the one to jump out of his skin when the fireworks started going off. However, it seemed his first-hand experience with their horrifying new residents on Level 3 was taking its toll.

Shiro couldn’t say he blamed Matt either. If he had those wide eyes focused on him day after day for hours on end, eyes that held just a little too much interest in the things they met, he’d be much worse for wear too.

Shiro was just about to say as much, when the overhead lights flickered off and the whole level went pitch black.

* * *

 Matt released a heavy breath as he stared at the screen in front on him, his stomach lurching horribly. It was a feeling he was growing more accustomed to, but that didn’t make it any less unpleasant.

Neurotoxin. As if the ghouls’ freakish movements, darting eyes, and harrowing growls weren’t already nightmare fuel, they came with an extra feature - or rather, some of them did. All seven of them had sacs in their mouths - sacs which Matt now regretted ever wanting to study - but it seemed the females were the only ones who had the toxin. Or perhaps both sexes developed the toxin glands, and the males’ were simply dormant?

From a biological standpoint, this was an intriguing find. As someone less than 50 feet away from them at any given time, it was significantly less “intriguing” and more “horrific.”

“What has you so worried?” Matt looked up from the screen and found Thace looking his way.

Matt looked back to his screen with a shake of his head. “Not worried, just . . .” _Just very glad those things are under lock and key,_ he thought.

“You know those saliva samples I got? So I could test the pH?”

“You found something.” Thace stood and circled around to look at the screen over Matt’s shoulder.

The blond pointed to a specific peak in the graph displayed. “Both males and females have slightly acidic saliva, and since the oldest female has the most acidic we can assume it’s natural to their species. She had been raised in the wild, where the others have been here their whole lives. But if you notice,” he opened a different window, this time a pair of graphs. Both were similar, except one had a peak the other lacked. “The females have this extra compound the males don’t.”

Thace didn’t have to say anything; Matt could feel as much as see him tense up when he registered what the screen was saying.

“These creatures are predators, and the top of the food chain in their region. Why would they need neurotoxin?”

Matt shook his head, “They must use it _somehow_ or it would have been bred out. And if it’s only the females . . . I don’t know, it wouldn’t be related to reproduction, would it?”

“I’m not sure.” Thace took a deep breath, then released it in a harsh sigh. “I recommend sending the samples to Hunk and redirecting your focus elsewhere for a while. We can come back to this later - perhaps after we obtain some more samples.”

“Sounds good.” The blond nodded, tapping commands to send the graphics to Hunk’s personal computer. Once done, he stood and grabbed the small vials from the table in front of him. “Nyma?”

Footsteps approached as the security officer made her way down the hall towards Matt’s lab.

He was surprised, though, to see Ulaz step around the corner.

“Ulaz?” Matt checked the time on his screen, “Didn’t shifts _just_ switch?”

The tall officer stepped into the lab, “She said Lance needed her to bring something to Level 1.”

“Ah.” The scientist looked to the vials in his hand, trying to decide if it would be better to wait for her to get back so she could take the samples to Hunk - as per protocol - or if he should just get it done now. He didn’t have to think too long.

Matt looked back to Ulaz, “I need to run these to Level 2 real fast, can I borrow your card to get into the stairs?”

The other nodded. “Of c--”

The overhead lights suddenly powered down, plunging the entire floor into pitch black - save the small areas illuminated by battery-run screens like Matt’s laptop. Everything electronic went from a dull buzzing to a low and heavy groan as it all went offline.

Eery, deathly silence filled the space, combated only by the humans’ breath.

Ulaz lowered his head and cued his mic. “Shiro? . . . Shiro, do you copy?” The group waited in anticipation, but received no answer.

Matt looked between Thace and Ulaz. “The radio has a power supply independent from the rest of the facility. It _should_ work.”

“The emergency generator should come on any second.” Thace sighed, “When it does we can check the energy grid and see what’s going on.”

Matt gulped, but nodded. Thace was right - with the system completely offline like this, all they’d get was a blank screen. Hopefully they could find the fault soon. He _really_ didn’t like the idea of being in the dark, let alone in the dark on Level 3.

At least the ghoul cages were still--

The group froze as a slow, high-pitched _creeeaaaaaak_ met their ears.

Ulaz motioned for Thace and Matt to remain seated, his focus on the ghoul containment area. He pulled his pistol from its holster, pulled the slide, stalked forward.

Matt held his breath as Ulaz disappeared around the corner.

One one-thousand. Two one-thousand. Three one-thousand.

The lights flickered back on.

A wet growl--

“Breach!”

Matt jumped as a sudden _BANG!_ echoed through the space.

Then a ghoul leapt out from around the corner.

“Move!” Thace grabbed Matt by the collar and hauled him to his feet. They were already sprinting to the hall by the time Matt’s mind caught up with his legs.

_The ghouls . . the ghouls are out._

Thace and he turned to run toward the elevator, but came to a skidding halt when they saw the other scientists had the same idea; the area was completely impassable.

“We need a card!” “It’s locked!” “Where’s Ulaz?”

A gurgled scream came from behind Matt and Thace. The whole group turned to see a ghoul clinging to one of the scientists, jaws sunk into his neck.

The hallway descended into madness as the other ghouls appeared from around the corner and overwhelmed the scientists. Screams and growls filled the air as they tried to flee but had nowhere to go.

“Back!” Thace shouted and pulled Matt backwards, away from the horde. He had no idea where Thace was going - Thace probably didn’t either - but anything had to be better than _this_.

Matt’s eyes locked onto the red the facility alert button as they ran down the hall. The others had to know. They had to get out of here.

He stopped at the button, just long enough to lift the glass and hit the red button, before he started running again.

The overhead alarm buzzed in their ears, but it only added to the cacophony; the cries of their coworkers weren’t drowned out.

They passed a lab with an enclosure in the corner - the one they hadn’t used in months.

Matt pointed to it, “There!” He turned and made a beeline for it, and he heard Thace right behind him.

_Almost there! Oh God, the growling--!_

Something pushed him forward, forcing him to stumble. He fell and slid forward on his side, his eyes squeezed shut.

He opened them again just as the door slammed shut - with Thace still outside the enclosure.

“Thace!” Matt scrambled to the door, “Thace, come on! Get inside!”

The man didn’t react to Matt, as he was wrestling with a ghoul that had leapt onto his back. He clawed at it, desperately trying to grab a hold of it. Matt watched in horror as the ghoul slashed at Thace’s back, drawing pained grunts from the scientist with each strike.

It swiped at Thace’s neck, and Thace grabbed the ghoul’s offending limb. He turned away from the enclosure and threw the ghoul into the hall by the arm.

Matt’s stomach churned as he saw the damage to Thace’s back, as his destroyed shirt displayed all the claw marks and the resulting cascade of blood.

“Thace, come on! Get inside!”

Thace turned and reached for the door.

A ghoul leapt at him from his side, slamming him against the glass of the door. He brought an arm up to force the thing off, but it clamped its jaws onto his neck.

Before either could react, the ghoul jerked its head sideways, and blood sprayed across its face.

“Thace!” Matt watched in horror as Thace slunk to the ground, leaving a wide streak of blood on the door as he slid against it.

He couldn’t clearly see how bad the wound was, but if the large chunk of flesh still in the ghoul’s mouth was any indication, Thace was in trouble.

Matt turned his focus to the door, desperate to help. As he examined the edges, though, he realized there was no way to open it from inside. It had been a cage, after all; the only way to open it was from the outside.

He rammed his shoulder into it, in the desperate hope that it would give. That it would open just enough for him to drag Thace inside, away from the ghouls. But alas, even after three hits the door refused to budge.

He turned his focus back to Thace, and found two pairs of eyes staring intently at him: the ghoul still hovering over Thace, and the one he’d thrown into the hall, which had now come back to the enclosure. Both looked . . almost curious, like they too wanted to see if the door would open. When it became clear Matt wouldn’t try again, they hissed at him.

He sank to the ground as his shaking legs gave up on him.

The ghouls outside moved away from Thace, still watching Matt. His attention, however, shifted to Thace and his raspy breathing.

Fear and guilt clutched his chest, almost choking off his breath as he drew his knees to himself. “I’m sorry, Thace,” he muttered, fear thick in his voice too. “I’m so, so sorry.”

 


	2. Act II

“Alright, everyone stay calm. The lights will come back on in just a minute.”

Without any windows in the facility, the entire floor was plunged into pitch black as the overhead lights died. Admittedly, Shiro didn’t know off the top of his head if anyone present was scared of the dark, but the facility had a habit of putting people on edge even when well-lit.

“Has this ever happened before?” Allura’s voice echoed around the eerily-quiet room.

Shiro shook his head, though realized belatedly that she couldn’t see it. “Never.”

“Lance, what’s going on?” Keith waited a moment, but was met with only silence. “Lance?” Again, nothing.

“But the radios shouldn’t be affected by a shortage in the main power supply,” Pidge spoke up. “Unless . . . something tampered with it?”

“You mean some _one_?” Rolo asked. “The radio power supply is on the first level, and Lance is the only one up there right now.”

“We’re not pointing any fingers,” Shiro said. “We’ll look into it, but for right now I don’t want to accuse anyone of sabotage.”

“Uh y-yes sir.”

The lights flashed, then slowly rose back to visible levels.

Shiro looked around, and found everyone in the same spots they’d been in when the lights went out.

He turned his attention to their resident tech expert. “Pidge, can you get into the system and see what happened to the lights?”

She nodded and reached for her laptop.

He then looked to Hunk. “And Hunk, I may need you to go to Level 1 and look into the radio.”

Hunk nodded, but a strange sound distracted him before he made his way towards the stairs.

Shiro looked to the ceiling as he listened too, curious to see what would distract his comrade. At first it sounded like just . . chatter. But then the distant clashing of voices turned into screams.

“What the h--”

The overhead alarm suddenly started buzzing, causing everyone in the room to jump.

It was a sound that Shiro had prayed he’d never hear.

Pidge looked up at the klaxon overhead and paled.

“That’s the containment breach alert.” She gasped, “Matt!”

She slipped past the group before anyone could react and charged down the hall toward the Level 3 stairs.

Shiro reached after her. “Pidge, wait!”

He made to run after her when a hand came down on his shoulder. He turned and found it was Rolo who’d stopped him. “Shiro, protocol says we secure any VIPs in case of containment failure.”

Shiro focused his gaze on the floor, his mind buzzing. _Dammit, this is bad. I can’t let her run off alone, but there are steps we have to take or we’ll only make the situation worse._ He closed his eyes briefly, sharply sighed, then looked to the group.

“Okay. Rolo, you take Coran and Allura to Level 1 and lock it down. Tell Lance to get down here - we’re going to need his help to contain the ghouls. Keith, you’re with me. Hunk, you go with Rolo.”

“Not a chance, Shiro.” Hunk shook his head, “I’m not leaving Pidge down here alone.”

Much as Shiro wanted to argue - Hunk wasn’t security, thus Shiro needed him to get to safety - he also knew he didn’t have the time. “Fine. But if I tell you to keep your head down, you listen.”

Hunk eagerly nodded.

Shiro looked back to Rolo and nodded to the stairs. “Go on.”

Rolo nodded back and motioned for Allura and Coran to follow him to the Level 1 staircase. Allura instead looked to Shiro, with a concerned expression.

He offered a slight smile, an attempted reassurance. “We’re trained for this. We’ll get you out of here.”

She didn’t seem to totally buy it, but still gave a short nod before she turned to follow Rolo.

Shiro watched the group move through the door to the stairs, his eyes locked on them until they disappeared from his line of sight.

Shiro released a sigh as he turned to Keith and Hunk. “Okay, we need weapons.”

He headed for the door at the far end of the tech lab, his face grim. Dammit, he hated that he would need to make use of the weapons locker. He knew it had been installed just in case of a situation like this, and he was glad it was accessible to them, but that didn’t mean he had to like this.

He came to a halt in front of the door and looked to the electronic lock. Shiro reached for his belt with his left hand, looking for his plastic security ID.

After several seconds of feeling for it, he still couldn’t find it. He looked to where it was usually clipped to his belt, and found it wasn’t there at all.

“Keith.” Shiro turned to the young man, “I need your ID.”

“You don’t have yours?” Keith approached, even as he spoke.

“I can’t find it. I know I had it earlier . . ”

Keith reached for his belt too once he got to the door, and Shiro saw the confusion spread across his face. Keith looked to his own belt, then to Shiro after a few seconds of unsuccessful searching.

“Okay, that can’t be coincidence. We’re _both_ missing them?”

Shiro looked to the Level 1 staircase. “We’ll have to figure it out later. For now, we just have to wait for Lance.”

* * *

 Lance paced in the security office, cursing the protocol that demanded that he stay on Level 1 even with an alarm blaring. The only reason he’d even stayed _this_ long was because Shiro had drilled into his head “we have to keep this area secure in case anything tries to break in or out.” Which, yeah, was all well and good - but if there was something up on the lower levels, Lance wanted to be there to help.

Especially when that alarm meant something got out of its cage.

There wasn’t anything he could do from here. The monitors were blank, the radios didn’t work, and there wasn’t a weapons locker on Level 1. So really, all he could do if it came to it was lock the elevator down and wrestle whatever nasty showed up.

Add to that the fact that Nyma didn’t know what to do in a situation like this. Honestly, Lance was still confused as to why she was even on Level 1 with him; she’d said her ID key wasn’t working so she came to the office to get a spare, then when the alarm went off she just got stuck with Lance on Level 1. But he wasn’t quite sure he believed her story - to his knowledge, there _were_ no “spares.” Pidge had laid into Lance when his ID stopped working because “security” and “expenses” and whatnot . . . so he didn’t think they’d have more just lying around in case somebody’s ID got busted.

But if Lance had time to be suspicious, then he had time to figure out how he could go help his friends. Hopefully in the power room Nyma would find what caused the power outage and the radios to go dead and that would give them some idea of what was going on - and what to do next.

The door to the stairs opened, drawing his attention. Coran and Allura appeared in the light, closely followed by Rolo.

“Rolo, what’s going on down there?” Lance tracked Rolo’s movement as the latter led Allura and Coran to the elevator. The elevator which could only open and close its doors on the emergency generator, but at least it would keep them safe if something _did_ get loose.

Once the other two were in the elevator and the doors slid shut, Rolo joined Lance in the office. “I don’t know, whatever happened was on Level 3. Shiro said for us to stay up here while he and Keith check into it.”

Okay, that _definitely_ didn’t sound right. Shiro knew better than anyone to not underestimate a potential threat, and every other time they had a scare or transported something dangerous - like the ghouls - Lance had been there as a precaution. If ever there was a time for Lance to be on the front line, it was now.

But Rolo and Nyma wouldn’t know about that. They had only recently started working here . . so they hadn’t seen how the team worked in emergencies like this.

Something was definitely up, but Lance didn’t have time to focus on that right now.

“I’m going.” Lance strode towards the stairs before the other guard could try and stop him.

“But Shiro said to stay put.”

“He can chew me out once we know what’s going on.” Lance slid his ID over the scanner next to the door, and was met with a buzz then a click as the door opened.

* * *

 Matt had heard the phrase “like a caged animal” quite a bit in his life, often in reference to violence. “Nothing is so dangerous as a caged animal.” “He fought like a caged animal.” But now _being_ caged, and carefully watched by the creatures he had studied, Matt didn’t feel an ounce of fight within himself. If anything, each time he locked eyes with one of the ghouls, he was just reminded of the horrible fate that awaited him if he so much as _tried_ to get out of here.

It wasn’t just seeing them, either. The smell of blood from the dead or dying scientists, mixed with the musk of the ghouls, was near nauseating. The sound of claws and skittering in the vents reminded Matt that the power supply for the barriers keeping the ghouls _out_ of the vents had been tampered with. And thus they had access to the whole facility.

And every time he even considered how he might get out of this situation, his audio, olfactory, or visual senses would remind him just how little he could do. For all he thought he understood through science, in the face of this kind of horror, he knew nothing that could help him survive.

The skittering in the vents picked up again, and a few seconds later something hit the barrier for the vent right next to him.

He jumped to his feet with a cry as something tumbled out of the vent. A breath later, he saw what had fallen out: there was a vent barrier, under it was a pile of clothes and bones, and on top was a ghoul writhing after its harsh landing.

 _Get it out!_ His heart was pounding, but Matt’s mind was buzzing with self-preservation. He looked for anything that could be a weapon as the ghoul struggled onto its feet, and his eyes locked onto the bones under the vent. He grabbed for one of the longer ones, and was ready to strike when the ghoul got up.

“Back!” he shouted at the thing, and its eyes locked on him. He took a harsh step forward. “Get back!”

The ghoul scrambled to its feet, but thankfully didn’t seem keen on fighting the young scientist. It snarled at Matt, but the latter refused to back down.

“I said get away!” With one last shout and step from Matt, the ghoul hissed then scurried back into the vent.

Matt waited for it to jump out at him, but after a few seconds it seemed the thing really had been intimidated by his show of force. Maybe he _did_ have some fight after all.

He lowered his arms, and his mind finally slowed down enough to realize that he’d used a _bone_ as a weapon.

Why were there even bones in that vent?

His eyes widened, then slowly traced back to the pile of clothes he’d plucked his “weapon” from. The size of the bones . . the clothes . . the ghouls had killed somebody. Long enough ago that the body was nothing but a skeleton now.

His stomach churning even more than a moment before, Matt knelt and moved the barrier off of the bones. The front of the shirt was destroyed, as though it had been shredded or eaten through by something. The bones all were covered in scratch marks, the reason for which Matt didn’t even want to think about. And near the top of the shirt was a name tag.

Sal.

* * *

 Shiro heard the door for the second level open and immediately tensed. He also saw Keith turn towards the hall, his hand going to his knife.

They both sighed in relief as Lance came around the corner.

“Please tell me you have your ID.” Shiro took a step towards Lance as the latter approached the group.

Lance pulled his ID from his belt and held it up for them all to see. “Of course. Why?”

“Shiro and I are both missing ours. And Hunk isn’t security, so he doesn’t have one.”

Lance looked around at the whole group, his face showing the same surprise and dread that the others had moments earlier.

Shiro motioned to the weapons locker, “So we need your help to get weapons - and to get to Level 3.”

Lance looked to Shiro with wide eyes, before he nodded. “S-sure thing.” He then approached the locker, ID still in-hand.

“So what’s the situation?” Lance didn’t turn as he opened the locker and opened the door.

“Not sure.” Shiro took the pistol Lance offered him. “The lights went out, then right after they came back on the alarm started. Pidge took off for Level 3, but with the radio down we don’t know who’s still alive down there.”

Lance turned to the group, “What, you think they actually--?”

“They’re definitely in the vents.” Keith looked to one of the walls, one from which they heard scurrying earlier. “Which means they could be anywhere in the facility.”

“Plus, those screams we heard earlier . . .” Hunk looked to the floor after he spoke.

The space was quiet for a moment, the dread of what they were about to do - and see - sinking in.

Then, Shiro looked back to Lance. “So we’re going in expecting the worst.”

Lance nodded as he continued handing ammunition to Shiro. “Glad I decided to join the party then.”

“‘Decided’?” Keith took the grenade Shiro held out to him and pocketed it. “Didn’t Rolo tell you we needed you down here?”

“Actually no.” Lance slung an assault rifle over his shoulder. “He told me you guys wanted me to stay upstairs while you checked things out.”

Shiro and Keith exchanged equally-confused glances. No way Rolo misheard, not when he was standing so close when Shiro spoke to him. That, plus the ID badges suddenly missing . . .

“We’ll figure that out later. For right now, we just need t--”

Shiro froze as the sound of claws against metal became louder than usual. Uncomfortably so.

The eyes of everyone in the group traced up to the walls, each just waiting for a ghoul to emerge from one of the vents at any moment.

“Lance,” Shiro whispered, barely audible. “Flashlight.”

Lance looked Shiro’s way, then reached to his belt for his light. He clicked the button a couple times, checking that it would turn on.

Something slammed against the cover for the vent, forcing it to clatter to the ground. A grayish mass fell onto it, then leapt towards the group before anyone could even react beyond a start.

Lance being the closest to the ghoul, he was the one it went after first. It knocked him to the ground, and he landed painfully on the rifle slung on his back - if that cry he gave out was any indication. It slashed at him, and he backhanded the thing across the face with the flashlight. The force knocked it back a step, at least buying Lance some space.

It shook its head, as though to shake the hit off, then turned its now-infuriated gaze back to Lance.

He didn’t give it the chance to make a second move. Still on his back, he clicked the flashlight on and shone it right in the ghoul’s eyes. This elicited a screech of pain - or perhaps anger - as it turned its head away from Lance and rubbed at its eyes.

“Hah, take that!” Lance sat up enough to speak but didn’t stand, probably to keep the light trained on the ghoul’s face.

The light flickered, then died out.

Lance frantically looked to the light, “Noooo, come on.” He slapped it a couple times, desperate to get it working again.

Once it realized the light was off, the ghoul turned back to the group. Its eyes were wide and darting all over the place, though it didn’t seem to be able to see anything. That would probably change in just a matter of seconds.

Everyone froze in place, no one wanting to make any sounds that would draw the ghoul towards them more than it already was.

“Don’t . . . move . . .” Shiro’s words were little more than a breath.

The ghoul took a step forward, and its front foot hit Lance’s leg - drawing a gasp from him.

The creature snapped its head towards Lance’s face and took another step forward. It unhinged its jaws, and even at this distance Shiro saw blood mixed with saliva drip from its mouth.

As soon as it regained its sight, Lance would be dead.

“Hey!” Shiro’s shout brought the ghoul’s attention directly to him.

Then it lunged.

He barely got his right arm up in time to block the ghoul’s bite, but he definitely wasn’t prepared for the force of the ghoul’s body. As the thing’s jaws clamped onto his prosthetic, Shiro was pushed against the wall. Its hands grasped at the prosthetic as well, but Shiro had no doubt that once it could see again, it would redirect its focus to something it could _actually_ sink its teeth into.

And its wide, hectic eyes were starting to regain focus.

Shiro tried to reach for his newly-acquired pistol with his left arm, but it was occupied trying to force the ghoul off of himself.

He saw a black blur in his periphery, but couldn’t spare it much thought. Not until the ghoul went slack, much too suddenly to be of its own will, and slumped to the floor. Shiro looked from the fallen creature to Keith, who was standing in front of him with his bloodied knife in-hand.

Shiro looked around the area at the others. “E . . everyone okay?” He realized for the first time just how heavy his breathing was.

“We’re fine, Shiro.” Keith stepped more directly in his line of sight. “But what about _you_?”

He was confused by Keith’s earnest concern, so Shiro checked his arms to see why he’d act like that. He found his left hand was worse for wear - apparently the ghoul had made contact with more than just the prosthetic after all, leaving several cuts across his hand and wrist that would definitely start hurting once the adrenaline wore off.

Shiro’s eyes traced over to his prosthetic arm, and that was where the true testament to the ghoul’s destructive ability lay. The arm was absolutely unusable; the creature’s strong jaws had crumpled the metal in several areas, and the teeth had pierced it with little problem. He hadn’t a doubt, upon seeing the damage, that in just a few more seconds the ghoul could have torn entirely through the arm.

He hurt, but he could still function.

“I’m good.” Shiro looked back to Keith, but didn’t budge under the latter’s incredulous gaze. “Just a flesh wound.”

Hunk motioned to the far wall, “We have a medical kit. Let’s at least--”

“We don’t have time.” Shiro looked back to the weapons locker, “We need to finish up here and get to Level 3.”

“Shiro, let Hunk help you.” Keith’s face was notably more stern. “By the time you get that wrapped, Lance and I will be done over here. You won’t be any help if your hand is so slick with blood that you can’t hold a gun.”

Shiro couldn’t say he was surprised by the mild outburst, but he was certainly surprised to have one turned on _him_. He stared at the younger officer for a short moment, before he relented with a wry smile. “Yes, sir.”

 


	3. Act III

 It took only minutes to finish loading out the team and for Hunk to take care of Shiro’s hand. Soon after, they all stood in front of the door to Level 3.

The sound of metal sliding against metal filled the air as everyone checked their weapons, ensuring they were ready for the horrors that lie ahead.

“Okay, here’s the plan.” Shiro looked to the others. “Keith and I will move in first. Keith can take the ghouls down with his knife if they get too close. Lance, you’ll open this door with your ID but don’t enter until after we do. You’ll take them out from a distance. And Hunk, you hang back near Lance - your stun grenades can blind us all if they’re too close, so lob for distance with those. Remember, everyone: we know they’ve gotten into the vents, so keep an ear out. We don’t want them to flank us by using them.

“We’ll get in, grab Pidge and anyone else who’s alive, then fall back to Level 1.”

The group nodded, their expressions solemn.

Shiro looked to Lance, then motioned to the door with a tilt of his head.

Lance stepped forward, ID badge in hand. He gripped the door handle with the other hand, while Shiro and Keith raised their weapons and pointed them to the door.

Lance glanced to the group once more, before swiping his ID to unlock the door.

He yanked the door open and stepped back, out of the way of the others.

The stairway was dark, but devoid of any signs of life - ghoul or human.

Shiro took a tense step forward, then another. The group fell in line behind him in the narrow walkway.

Within a minute, they collected at the door separating the stairs from Level 3.

Keith took a shaky breath before his free hand grasped the handle. He snuck a glance at Shiro, who nodded with a nervous sigh of his own.

Keith turned the handle and opened the door.

The smell hit them first - the suffocating scent of blood and death. It drew coughs from all but Shiro, who had experienced this particular smell more often than he’d have liked.

Then, as the door opened wide enough to enter, they were met with the hallway - nearly impassable with the sheer amount of dead bodies scattered across it.

And just ahead of the group, maybe twenty feet from the starway door, were several ghouls circling a table. A small figure hunkered just behind it.

“Pidge!” Shiro set his sights on the ghoul nearest to him and fired. The creatures turned their focus to the group, but Keith and Lance joined in the barrage before they could act. The nearest ghoul fell in seconds.

The remaining creatures retreated to the other side of the hall, just out of sight. Which at least gave Shiro’s group a chance to maneuver their way through the hall and to the table Pidge hid behind.

Her bloody hands were clamped around a pistol and a security ID badge. A glance at the ID showed it was Ulaz’s - and another glance found him lying just a few feet away, dead.

“Matt’s trapped in the containment cell across the hall.” Her voice quivered as the looked to Shiro. “I can’t get to him by myself.”

“You don’t have to.” Shiro straightened and looked over the table to see where the ghouls were, then looked to Pidge again. “How many did you see?”

“Ah th-three maybe?”

Shiro snuck another glance toward the way the ghouls had run and nodded. He saw two, both glaring at him, and he also spied that enclosure Matt was in.

He hid behind the table again and looked to Hunk. “Toss one of your grenades across the hall, but don’t hit the cell Matt’s in.”

Hunk stole a glance at his target, then paled - probably at the ghouls looking his way. He looked to his grenade supply, pulled the pin on one, then lobbed it as directed.

“Matt, cover your eyes! Flashbang out!”

The group heard the metal grenade hit the floor, and a second later bright light filled the space - along with angry growls and hisses of the blinded ghouls.

“Open fire!”

The gang stood from behind the tables and turned their focus to the ghouls. The sound of weapons-fire was deafening as it echoed through the space. The cacophony only lessened when someone paused to reload their magazine.

After a few long seconds the ghouls stopped moving, prompting the team to cease fire.

Shiro glanced at Pidge’s brother. “Matt, are they all dead?”

Matt pulled his hands away from his ears and looked to the area with the fallen ghouls - an area the others couldn’t see without getting closer.

He nodded, “Two of them are, yeah. It looks like the third escaped into the vent.”

Shiro cursed under his breath before he turned to survey the space. “Including the one on Level 2, that puts us at four ghouls dead?”

“Five.” Pidge motioned to Ulaz, “It looks like Ulaz killed one too.”

“Five out of what? Seven?”

Pidge nodded.

“That leaves two unaccounted for.” Lance piped up, with no attempt to hide his dread.

“They could be in the vents,” Shiro mused, before looking to Lance and Keith. “You two go back up to Level 1. Make sure we have a way out of here. Hunk, Pidge, and I will get Matt and meet you up there.”

Keith looked to Lance, then back to Shiro. “Are you sure? What if they come back here?”

“We can take care of it. But if there _is_ something going on with Rolo and Nyma, I don’t want all of us stuck down here. Plus, if you go on ahead, you might run into the ghouls first and clear the way for us.”

Keith didn’t look pleased with the idea, but he also didn’t seem aimed to argue. Rather, he held his rifle and spare magazines out to Hunk. “At least take these, just in case. Those grenades won’t help in tighter quarters.”

Hunk nervously looked at the weapon, then met Keith’s gaze. “Are you sure?”

Keith nodded, “I have my knife. _And_ I’ll have our sharpshooter.”

Hunk grimaced, as though not entirely convinced, but still accepted the offered gun.

“We’ll be right behind you.” Shiro motioned to the door with a tilt of his head, “Now go.”

Keith and Lance both nodded at him before they turned and headed for the stairs.

* * *

 Lance and Keith moved at a brisk walking pace through Level 2 as Lance removed the clip from his rifle. “So what do we do when we get to Level 1?”

Keith’s head turned side-to-side as he watched for ghouls, knife in hand. “We get power to the elevator, make sure Allura and Coran are safe, and prepare the way out for Shiro and the others.”

“Nyma was working on the power just before I went down to Level 2. What if she couldn’t get it working?”

“Then _we_ look into it.”

“You really think Nyma and Rolo were behind this somehow?”

Keith released a harsh sigh, “I don’t know. But a lot of things went wrong today that shouldn’t have and they’ve been conveniently absent for a lot of it.” He glanced at Lance, “Rolo even tried to suggest _you_ were behind the power outage.”

Lance looked up at Keith, surprised. A part of him wanted to scoff, to be shocked in horror that Rolo would suggest such a thing - but Lance had his doubts after his last conversation with Rolo. “What if we confront them and we’re wrong?”

“Look, I’m not saying we give them the third degree when we get up there; finding a way out is our first priority. I’m just saying that we watch our backs.” Keith looked to the door ahead, “It’s our job to get everyone out of here alive. That includes Rolo and Nyma, even if they did have something to do with all of this.”

Lance looked back to his rifle and the fresh magazine in his hand. “I would’ve thought you’d be the first to suggest leaving them to the ghouls.”

“If we left them behind, we’d never really know what happened. If we take them with us, we will - and, if they are responsible, we could make _sure_ they answer for it.”

“Say what you will, but I think Shiro’s rubbing off on you.”

Keith rolled his eyes, “Maybe.”

Whether or not Rolo and Nyma were a threat here, there were definitely still two ghouls standing between the team and safety - not to mention a hundred feet of earth above their heads.

Lance inserted the magazine then racked the slide, putting a round in the chamber.

* * *

 The two moved quietly through the staircase to Level 1, still listening for ghouls. Best they could tell, the creatures were still in the vents - though where, exactly, was hard to tell.

At least it didn’t seem like they were on Level 1.

Keith made it to the door first, and checked that Lance was ready to proceed, before he pushed the door open.

To the side, in the security office, they heard guns cock.

Keith and Lance both raised their weapons in response, and looked toward the source of the sound. They found a surprised Nyma and Rolo staring at them.

Rolo was the first to lower his weapon, then Nyma followed suit.

He sighed, “Man, we thought you were all dead.”

“Not quite.” Lance relaxed as well before nodding to the stairway doors. “Shiro and the others should be on their way too.”

“Wow,” Nyma looked surprised, “You guys sure are resilient.”

Keith stepped forward, cutting off any reply Lance may have had to her comment. “Did you fix the power?”

Nyma shook her head, “It’s no good. The whole thing is fried.”

Keith turned toward the power room, “Maybe I can take a look at it.”

“I told you, it’s not going to work. We sent an SOS, let’s just wait here until someone shows up to help.”

Keith continued anyway, only stopping when he got to the door. He pushed it open, and his grip on his knife only tensed at what he found.

“Yeah, generators don’t work right when you shoot them.”

Keith looked back to Nyma, and found her aiming her gun at him once more.

Lance turned to Rolo and Nyma, “You _what_?”

“Well I didn’t shoot it _at first_. The timer turned it off, the bullets were just a precaution.”

Lance aimed his rifle at Nyma. “Why?”

“So it couldn’t be turned back on.”

“No, I mean--”

“We know what you mean.” Rolo raised his own weapon, then slowly stepped out of the security office - so he was now in the same space as Lance and Keith. Shiro and Keiths’ ID badges were clipped to his belt. “You mean how could we do this to our own employer. To our friends?”

“Something like that.”

“It’s not that hard, actually. The Altea family isn’t our employer - and you guys aren’t our friends. You _were_ a good help, though, in helping us figure out the place.”

Keith took a step away from the power room door, still keenly aware of the weapon trained on him. “So you’re Galra spies or something. But why do _this_?” Keith practically growled the last word as he gestured to the stairway - to all the horror that lay beyond.

“Hey, orders are orders. We were given instructions and a paycheck - can’t really ask for more than that.” Rolo lowered his weapon. “I guess Galra Tech got tired of Altea taking some of their best employees, stealing their ideas, and then pulling ahead as the world’s leading company in technological advances and research. Assassinating the head of a powerful company like that would create problems and it wouldn’t be hard to figure out who’s behind it. But if there were a ‘horrible accident’ at their best lab on a day when Ms. Altea just _happened_ to be conducting an inspection, then no one would bat an eye. Altea’s reputation would take the hit as the world over asks themselves what kind of research could have caused such a tragedy. Galra Tech would take its place at the forefront of modern tech and Altea would be left in ruins.”

Lance’s eyes widened as Rolo spoke. “So we were all just pawns in your master plan?”

“We were _all_ pawns,” Nyma spoke up. “Rolo and I are just . . well-compensated pawns.”

“And everyone who died on the lower levels . . . their deaths don’t mean anything, do they?” Keith was shaking with fury, his grip on his knife now even tighter than before.

“You think they didn’t know what they were playing with?” Rolo nodded to the door, “You guys know. Everyone who went near those abominations knew they were dealing with something way beyond their grasp. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. Problem is, they didn’t know when to leave well enough alone.”

“And Galra _does_? They would have weaponized their findings!” Keith raised his knife toward Rolo, “In fact, you did just that by turning them on everyone here.”

“Keith.” Lance glanced back at him, signaling him to stop, before he returned his focus to Rolo and Nyma. “You two can cut it out with the villainous exposition; you’re getting pretty cliché. Just tell us this: why did you two decide to stick around this long, instead of taking off when it hit the fan?”

“We had to make sure our job was done,” Nyma said. “Any time now a Galra Tech employee will just happen to be in the area when he hears an SOS on his radio from a nearby Altea underground facility. When he arrives, there will only be two survivors: the newest security guards. They’ll tell a horrible story of a research project gone awry and nobody will come within a hundred miles of this ghoul-infested lab to confirm it.”

“And who’s to say they won’t just leave you two down here to rot with the rest of us?”

“Even if they do,” Rolo stepped forward, “that doesn’t change our job here: to make sure no one else makes it out alive.”

Then he fired a shot.

Keith took the shot in his left arm, but that didn’t seem to deter him. If anything, his angry yell and charge towards Rolo spurred Lance to act, and he opened fire on Nyma. She took cover behind the half-wall of the security office, and a glance showed that Lance couldn’t get to her without going near Rolo, who definitely wouldn’t let him by.

Lance looked around the space, but didn’t see much in the way of cover. The closest he could find was the same wall Nyma was on the other side of, or Rolo. The latter wasn’t an option though; he and Keith were grappling, and Nyma would have no problem shooting Keith.

Lance dashed for the half-wall and ducked under the lip so Nyma couldn’t see him if she broke cover.

Something metal clattered to the floor, and Lance looked over to see Keith’s knife at his feet. After another few seconds, Keith pried Rolo’s own weapon free and the two went at it with their fists.

They took a few steps away from the security office entrance - enough for Lance to slip through, at least.

Still ducked behind the wall, he started moving toward the entry to the office.

The end of a gun just barely peeked out from behind the wall in front of him, and fired a few shots at Rolo and Keith - barely missing them both. _Guess Nyma had the same idea._

Lance waited until he heard the magazine slide free, then reached out and wrapped his hand around that holding the gun. Nyma’s grip on the weapon tensed under Lance’s hand, but a split second later she moved around the corner, towards Lance. He saw her fist swinging towards his head just a breath too late, and her punch landed on his cheek.

He was surprised by the hit, allowing her time to grip the side of his head and slam it against the wall hard enough to make him see white.

She turned her focus to her companion. “Rolo, we have about thirty seconds on the elevator charge!”

The elevator . . . crap, Allura and Coran were still in there--!

Wait . . what did she mean by “charge”?

“Wai . .” Lance struggled to regain his balance, very much still feeling the effects of that last hit.

Nyma grabbed him by the collar, effectively keeping him off-balance and off his feet as she dragged him . . somewhere.

He blinked several times, finally at least clearing his vision enough to see color. And to see that she was taking him to the elevator.

Lance tried to pry himself free from Nyma’s grip, but didn’t have much effect as she stopped at the elevator controls.

“Three birds with one stone,” she muttered.

Wait . . . three birds? If Allura and Coran were in there, Lance would make three . . . and the stone? The charge?

Oh no . . . they were going to blow the elevator . . he had to get Allura and Coran out of there. In what, like . . twenty seconds? Twenty-five?

Nyma pushed the button for the elevator doors and poised to toss Lance in, but both she and Lance froze at what they found.

The elevator was empty, except for a metal plate on the ground that had been pulled from the ceiling.

Allura and Coran . . made it out?

“Let him go!”

Lance and Nyma turned to find Keith and Rolo on the ground, both panting. Keith had Rolo pinned, and held Rolo’s own gun to the traitor’s head.

“Let him go or I’ll do it.” Keith’s intense expression reinforced his words.

Nyma conceded, and slowly released her grip on Lance’s collar. He sank to the floor, head still pulsing.

A wet growl echoed through the space, and a split second later a metal vent cover clattered to the floor.

Keith looked at the offending sound just a heartbeat before a ghoul lept from the vent.

He pushed Rolo away, gun still in hand as he scrambled to get up. The creature hissed, and the proximity caused Keith to pause mid-way and turn to the thing while in a kneeling position. He raised the pistol and fired.

The bullet lodged in the side of the ghoul’s face, eliciting an infuriated cry from it but not stopping its forward motion.

It swept its arm out, and raked Keith across his eye.

Keith cried out as he fell backwards, a hand covering the wound. Lance’s heart sank as he watched Keith go down, knowing that the ghoul would go after him if he was an easy target.

What had Shiro done to save Lance earlier when he was in a similar position?

“Keith!”

The ghoul turned its sights on Lance, sending a chill down his spine.

_Then_ it occurred to him that he didn’t have his rifle. He must’ve dropped it when Nyma slammed his head into the wall.

The ghoul lept at Lance, and he just barely rolled out of the way.

The creature slammed into Nyma’s legs, knocking her backwards. She fell to the ground inside the elevator, then desperately fought to get the creature off of her.

Panicked cries and vicious growls filled Level 1 as the struggle continued. A struggle Nyma was quickly losing.

“Help her!” Rolo retrieved the gun Keith had dropped and fired at the ghoul, but what few bullets his magazine had left had little to no effect on the creature.

Then an explosion went off inside the elevator shaft, and debris filled the air as the elevator car plummeted.

No one could tell if the screams that echoed through Level 1 were from Nyma or metal screeching against metal, but it was undoubtedly a mix of both.

After a short moment, the screeching was replaced with the heavy impact of the car hitting the bottom of the shaft.

The sound lingered in the air, along with the smoke and airborne dust, for a tense moment. As it all settled, Lance could hear only the harsh breathing of the humans present.

Rolo sank to his knees, and his pistol clambered to the ground next to him. His wide eyes were focused on the open elevator door, as though he couldn’t believe what just happened.

Steps approached from the staircase, and Lance looked just in time to see Shiro’s group arrive; behind him was Hunk, and Pidge clinging to Matt.

The four of them coughed as they entered the space, then stared wide-eyed at the scene before them.

Pidge, Matt, and Hunk flocked over to Keith once they saw his injury, while Shiro approached Lance.

He put his left hand on Lance’s shoulder, drawing his attention. “What happened here?”

Lance just stared at him for a second, trying to find the words. His splitting headache aside, how could he even describe this?

His eyes settled on Rolo, and his brow furrowed. “They betrayed us. Rolo and Nyma.”

Shiro glanced at Rolo, then his eyes settled on the gun on the ground next to him. Shiro reached just far enough to bat the weapon away, then looked around the area. His focus resettled on Lance. “Where’s Nyma?”

Lance lowered his head, then nodded behind him to the elevator. “They’d . . . rigged it to blow. A ghoul knocked her inside . .”

Shiro looked to the shaft, then his eyes widened. “Allura and Coran--”

“They weren’t in there. I think . . I think they made it out.”

Shiro breathed a visible sigh of relief, then nodded. “There’s an emergency ladder inside the shaft. We can use it to get to the surface too.”

Shiro stood up, then offered Lance a hand up. Once on his feet, Shiro had to help him find his balance.

“You killed her,” Rolo muttered, then glared up at Lance. “You tried to argue that what we did was wrong, but when it came down to it you let her die without even trying to help.”

Lance met his gaze, “There was nothing I could do.”

“It was going after _you!_ You could’ve--!”

“Enough!” Shiro spoke up, loud enough to spook everyone present. “We can argue when we get to safety.” He turned his focus to Keith, who was at least sitting up now. “Keith, can you walk on your own?”

Keith nodded, then pulled his hand from his eye to push himself off the ground. The sight of his wound was enough to make anyone’s stomach churn; the whole side of his face was ravaged, and his eye was just _gone_.

Even Shiro gulped at the sight and needed a second to process it before he continued.

“We’re taking the emergency ladder in the elevator shaft to the surface. Pidge, you’re going to lead the way. You’ll be followed by Keith, Matt, Lance, Hunk, Rolo, then I’ll bring up the rear.”

“Not a chance, Shiro.” Lance looked down at Shiro’s destroyed prosthetic, “You’re in bad shape too. Let someone else go behind you, in case you need help.”

Hunk stepped forward, “Yeah, I’ll have your back.”

Shiro looked to him then sighed, as though he knew he wouldn’t win this argument. “Alright, _Hunk and I_ will bring up the rear.”

“Let’s get out of here, then,” Pidge started walking toward the elevator.

Lance held a hand out to Rolo. “Come on, Rolo, get up. You’re coming with us.”

Rolo didn’t make a move to accept the offered help; he simply stared ahead at the elevator.

“Oh, nununo.” Keith pushed past the rest of the group and harshly grabbed Rolo, in an attempt to make the man stand. Without Rolo bearing his own weight, though, Keith was left holding Rolo up to his eye level. “You don’t get to escape this without paying. You _will_ answer for what you’ve done here, even if we have to hog-tie you and carry you to the surface.”

“Keith.” Shiro stepped in, placing his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Let him go.”

“No!” Keith angrily looked to Shiro, “How could you let him get away with it?! So many people _died_ today because of him!”

“If he wants to stay here, that’s his choice. We can’t drag him if he doesn’t want to go - he could take us down with him.”

Keith’s face turned from anger to disbelief as he stared at his superior. “Shiro, we can’t just let him go free--!”

“You know we’re not. But it’s my job to get as many people to safety as I can. We can have police posted at the surface, in case he comes up. And if he doesn’t . . he’ll be sleeping in the bed he’s made.” Shiro’s demeanor was . . . disturbingly calm as he looked Rolo dead in the eye. “Either way, he won’t escape today without facing consequences, I can promise you that.”

Keith looked from Shiro to Rolo, and his expression twisted in disgust before he threw Rolo to the ground.

He spared one last death glare at the man before joining Pidge at the shaft door.

* * *

A hundred feet was a _long_ way to climb. In the dark. With three injured people - one of whom was likely concussed.

But still, each rung was a step closer to freedom. And by helping Shiro, Lance, and Keith with the climb, the group took each step together.

Pidge, leading the way, was maybe ten feet from the elevator door when a wet growl echoed through the shaft. The entire group froze, bracing themselves for the incoming ghoul.

A second later, gunfire echoed through as well, and there was a universal understanding of what was happening some ninety feet below them.

“It’s like you said, Shiro.” Everyone looked to Lance, “He’s sleeping in the bed he made.”

Shiro nodded up at him, before leaning around to try and look at Pidge. “Keep going, Pidge - we’re just about there.”

“Yeah, let’s get out of here before Rolo turns on _us_.” Hunk looked down.

“Where did he even _get_ a gun?” Pidge asked as she resumed climbing.

“Think I left mine down there when Nyma rung my bell,” Lance spoke up. “He had his own, but he emptied the magazine.”

The group came to a stop again as Pidge reached the closed elevator door. She searched, but couldn’t find a way to open it from the inside.

“What’s wrong, Pidge?” Shiro called up.

“The door’s closed. I can’t figure out how to get it open.”

After another short moment of searching, she started banging on it. “Hey! Open up!”

“Pidge, you really think someone’s out there?” Matt spoke up.

“Allura and Coran used this way to get out. They might still be here.” She hit the door again, “Hey!”

As Pidge continued her assault on the door, the sound of gunfire and growls from below seemed to taper off - though what that meant for Rolo and the remaining ghoul, no one could be sure.

The elevator door opened, and Pidge was met with the barrel of a rifle.

“Wait, wait!” She put the hand she had been using to hit the door in the air. “We’re survivors.”

The gruff man at the other end of the weapon still stared harshly at Pidge, as though not totally convinced.

A woman appeared behind him and looked around the door.

“Kolivan, stand down.” Allura rushed forward, Coran at her heels, and came to a stop immediately behind the armed man. “She’s a scientist in the lab.”

“I’m not alone,” Pidge glanced at the others, then back at the man in the doorway. “There’s a group of us - some injured.”

Kolivan offered Pidge a hand, helping her step onto the ground level floor. Allura and Coran walked with her away from the door, until her knees gave out a few paces away.

Kolivan helped the others up as they made it to the door, and all more-or-less collapsed near Pidge. Matt pushed himself to get _to_ Pidge, and once down the two siblings hugged each other.

Allura looked at the group with a mix of surprise and sadness. “You were the only ones to make it out?”

Everyone lowered their heads - all the answer she needed.

After a moment of silence, Shiro looked to the elevator doors. “We need to keep someone stationed here - and armed.”

Coran stepped forward, “You don’t think--”

“I don’t know if the ghoul can get out. Or if Rolo survived their encounter.”

Lance looked at Allura, “What we _do_ know is that Galra Technologies orchestrated this. Rolo and Nyma were Galra plants whose whole purpose here was to kill you. And Galra Tech might try again.”

“It’s not all of them, though.” Matt seemed borderline desperate as he looked between Allura and Lance. “Thace died to save me - and Ulaz tried to protect us all.”

Allura nodded, “I understand. This matter will be tended to shortly. But for now,” she looked over the whole group, “Let’s get you all to the hospital.”

Allura, Coran, and Kolivan stepped in to help the group to their feet. Once up most everyone headed to the exit, where they could see the helicopter waiting beyond the glass doors.

Only Kolivan stayed behind for a moment, to tell Regris, the ground floor guard, to watch the elevator. After relaying the command, he rejoined the others outside.

As the helicopter engine started up, no one heard the echoes ascending the elevator shaft.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again!  
> Thank you so, so much for reading this fic!
> 
> Please feel free to check out [my artist's Tumblr](https://13bella.tumblr.com/) for more great Voltron art, and [my Tumblr](https://knightlychika.tumblr.com/) for Voltron/fandom stuffs


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